The Bad Guys 2 is Twice as Good as the Original

Who doesn’t love a heist film? The snappy dialogue, the sneaky editing that disguises a central twist right in plan sight, the charming leads and easy confidence of a movie aiming for the middle-brow… in a perfect world, we’d have as many heist films released a year as we do superhero movies, but despite the best efforts of the Now You See Me trilogy, we live in a fallen, barren world devoid of handsome con men and femme fatales.

So imagine my surprise when one of the few offerings of this easy-to-enjoy genre of the last few years was the animated film The Bad Guys. The original was pure Plane Cinema (good enough to keep your attention, not so good you bemoan the missed opportunity to watch it at a theater or with a friend) and I enjoyed it as such. But even more surprising, it turns out that The Bad Guys 2 improves on the first in nearly every way, yanking itself out of the Plane Cinema category into Theater Movie.

As with the first film, The Bad Guys 2 follows Wolf (Sam Rockwell) and his thieving crew of anthropomorphic animals mostly trying to live as model, everyday citizens. Despite saving the city from the evil guinea pig Marmalade (Richard Ayaode) and gaining the trust of former-thief-turned-governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), The Bad Guys aren’t exactly greeted as heroes by the city. Much like so many of us, their heroism has gone relatively unnoticed by the populace, and their years of thieving aren’t leading to any promising job interviews. With a new super thief enacting a series of daring heists of McGuffinite (an on-the-nose joke that doesn’t get any more charming the more they wink at it), Wolf has to consider whether staying on the straight and narrow is worth the struggle.

Modern-day animated films have gotten a somewhat-deserved stigma for casting A-list actors to show up, hit their lines with the bare minimum of enthusiasm, and head on home just so that the producers can advertise that a movie stars “The Rock.” And while the voice cast for The Bad Guys 2 is full of familiar names like Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Natasha Lyonne and more, special credit has to be paid to Rockwell for instilling a genuine pathos in Wolf’s struggle to balance his moral compass. His delivery adds depth to a fairly well-trod story, letting the audience feel how much fun Wolf used to have while still holding a note of pride in how much effort he’s putting in to do the right thing.

And while the story (made for kids, after all) is simple in its broad scope, it improves on the original in subtle, thoughtful ways. The Bad Guys split the difference between having its cake and eating it too by having the crew save the city and return their stolen goods while also going to prison for their crimes in the name of rehabilitation. It’s an awkward detail when the governor gets to be both a former super-thief and an upstanding citizen who never had to actually answer for her crimes in the same way—we’re meant to cheer the bad guys’ choice to take accountability, yet it feels pointless in the big picture when they’ve already made amends. But in a turn I wasn’t expecting, The Bad Guys 2 zeroes in on that plot point as one of its central themes by directly comparing the ease with which some characters get to shrug off societal pressure while others just aren’t given the opportunity. It’s a shockingly cogent rebuke to a criticism that I felt somewhat silly for leveling at a children’s movie.

The plot aside, mainstream animated movies exist as spectacle, first and foremost. So, how does it look and sound? The soundtrack from Daniel Pemberton (Across the Spider-Verse) definitely helps, and the film has consistently impressive set pieces and flexibility in style. It’s not nearly so daring as Spider-Verse or TMNT, but car chases feel thrilling and a heist during a live luchador event (not to mention the third act finale) offers a visual ambition that audiences rarely get to see.

That said, one consistently confusing aspect of these films is that the main cast (minus one) are all anthropomorphic animals in a world that clearly accommodates them as animals. Snake is an actual snake, not just a very snake-like person given a visual flourish. And yet every single other person in the film is a human person, leading to (for this reviewer) a constant nagging distraction. It’s not quite Zootopia’s half-baked racial allegory, but it’s not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles either, where the average person knows that it’s a little weird to be talking to a turtle, teenaged or mutant notwithstanding. While it never quite rises to the level of a flaw, for anyone older than the film’s target audience, it’s likely going to distract.

For adult viewers, The Bad Guys 2 isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about the franchise, but it’s fast, fun, and consistently pretty. Like many a 3/5 heist film, if you enjoy the ride, it’s hard to find too much fault with the trick. I’m looking forward to watching whatever sequel they make next… in theaters, instead of on a plane this time.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider becoming a patron of Hyperreal Film Journal for as low as $3 a month!